RES 2005-22 JAPANESE MEMORIAL RECOGNIZATIONRESOLUTION NO. 2005 — 22
A RESOLUTION of the City of Bainbridge Island,
Washington, encouraging the National Park Service, the
United States Congress and appropriate federal authorities
to recognize the former Eagledale ferry landing on
Bainbridge Island as a national memorial to remember the
unconstitutional internment of Japanese Americans during
World War II and to include the "Nidoto Nai Yoni
Memorial as a satellite unit of the Minidoka Internment
National Monument.
WHEREAS, during World War II on February 19, 1942, President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, setting in motion the forced exclusion of
more than 110,000 Japanese Americans from Washington, Oregon and California; and
WHEREAS, in Washington State, 12,892 men, women and children of Japanese
ancestry — most of them United States citizens — experienced three years of
unconstitutional internment, deprived of their rights granted under Amendment XIV of
the United States Constitution to protect their life, liberty and property through due
process of law;
WHEREAS, on March 30, 1942, 227 Bainbridge Island men, women and
children of Japanese ancestry were escorted by U.S. Army soldiers to the former
Eagledale ferry landing and became the first Japanese Americans in United States history
to be forcibly removed from their homes by Civilian Exclusion Order No. 1; and
WHEREAS, to commemorate this momentous and tragic event in United States
history, the Bainbridge Island World War II Nikkei Exclusion Memorial Committee, a
joint endeavor of the Bainbridge Island/North Kitsap Interfaith Council and the
Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community, together with the City of Bainbridge
Island and the Bainbridge Island Park and Recreation District, are working to establish a
national memorial at the former Eagledale ferry landing known as Nidoto Nai Yoni
Memorial (Let it Not Happen Again); and
WHEREAS, in December 2004, through coordinated funding efforts of the
federal, state, county and local governments and by private donations through the
Bainbridge Island Land Trust, Friends of Pritchard Park and the Trust For Public Land,
the City of Bainbridge Island and the Bainbridge Island Park and Recreation District have
acquired the eastern 22 -acres of the former Wyckoff/Eagle Superfund site for park and
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memorial purposes, including approximately 8 -acres of property located adjacent to
former site of the Eagledale dock that is intended for the Nidoto Nai Yoni Memorial; and
WHEREAS, the City of Bainbridge Island, The Bainbridge Island Park and
Recreation District, and the Bainbridge Island World War II Nikkei Internment and
Memorial Committee have created a working partnership including planning, permitting
and developing Phase I of the Nidoto Nai Yoni Memorial; and
WHEREAS, on June 26, 2002, through the adoption of Resolution 2002-02, the
City supported legislation leading to U. S. Public Law 107-383 authorizing the National
Park Service to study the former Eagledale ferry landing for a potential new Park System
unit; and
WHEREAS, the National Park Service has issued the draft study of the former
Eagledale ferry landing in response to U.S. Public Law 107-383, entitled Bainbridge
Island Japanese American Memorial Nidoto Nai Yoni, Study of Alternatives/
Environmental Assessment, Spring 2005, and is requesting public comment; and
WHEREAS, inclusion of the Nidoto Nai Yoni Memorial as a unit of the National
Park System will provide the Memorial with national recognition, federal funding for
development and on-going operation costs, professional interpretation, Park Service
staffing, and connection to the two nationally designated Park System units in which
Bainbridge Island Japanese American residents were sent during WW II (Manzanar
National Historic Site in California and Minidoka Internment National Monument in
Idaho), and also will enhance the Manzanar and Minidoka interpretive experience by
connecting the story to the first action undertaken under Executive Order 9066; NOW
THEREFORE
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAINBRIDGE ISLAND,
WASHINGTON, DOES RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
That the City of Bainbridge Island supports Alternative C in the National Park Service's
draft study, Bainbridge Island Japanese American Memorial Nidoto Nai Yoni, Study of
Alternatives/Environmental Assessment, Spring 2005, which will designate the Memorial
as a satellite unit of the Minidoka Internment National Monument and as a unit of the
National Park System.
PASSED by the City Council this 25th day of May, 2005.
APPROVED by the Mayor this day of May, 2005.
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ATT ST/AUTHENTICATE:
usan Kasper, City Clerk
FILED WITH THE CITY CLERK:
PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL:
RESOLUTION NO.:
Darlene Kordonowy, Mayor
May 20, 2005
May 25, 2005
2005-22
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